Safe GPU temps

[cdawall]

Alot of talk goes around on these forums and many others about what a "safe" GPU temp is. Most people you will ask will say keep it under 70C or i don't like anything in my case running over 60C. This is bunk, BS, whatever you want to call it.

All current GPU's since the Ti4x00 series from Nvidia and 9xx0 for ATi have been able to handle 100C+ temps. current cards are safe running 24/7 at 100C. G80 and up are rated to fail at over 120C. this means at 90C your card is doing just fine!

When you oc on a reference cooler the GPU is not what will fail you will loose the VRM's or capacitors way before the GPU as it will throttle itself down if temps become to high.

A video card at stock will not fail due to overheating without an external problem. Things like bad air flow, (read this for help with keeping you case cool) dust, improper installation that damages a heatsink, or even an unplugged heatsink fan.

New high-end cards run hot that's the way it is this wont change with out a major revamp on core designs.

 

[MRCL]

This might be right, but I for one find it just more calming, if the GPU temps are in the two digit midfield of temperature scale (I'm talkin celsius)... 51° simply look better than 91°, even tough it has virtually no effect on the card... imho

 

[mlee49]

This means at 90C your card is doing just fine!

Agreed. Safe temp is below 90C.

Thanks for helping stamp out these misconceptions about GPU temps!

 

[cdawall]

i just got tired of the 8000000 threads asking is my GPU ok at watever temps if it isn't crashing in games and 3D its temp is probably ok!

 

[zithe]

People will only stop asking this once they get an answer. The old posts tend to get deleted. I just went and used control - f and searched 'temp' on every page in this forum and the first few of ATI and Nvidia.

This was the only topic I hit.

Edit: Just tried looking up 'temp' under search. This was the first topic. I saw loads of others but they were saying stuff like "Why didn't they include the temps in the review?" and stuff like that.

 

[cdawall]

thats because its not normally threads its posts inside of threads that go hey is my GPU ok at XX temp

 

[DrPepper]

I know gpu's can handle high temps but I like to keep mine cool because when its hot the whole room heats up lol. Plus I feel uncomfortable even though my old cards managed higher temps without me realising.

 

[Lillebror]

I know gpu's can handle high temps but I like to keep mine cool because when its hot the whole room heats up lol. Plus I feel uncomfortable even though my old cards managed higher temps without me realising.

That, my friend, is a placebo The card is generating the same heat, your just moving it into your room faster

 

[newtekie1]

I disagree that 90C is safe for GPU's. It might not fry the card instantly, but it will definitely shorten the lifespan. Why it is safe for a GPU to be at 90C, but not a CPU, they are made out of the same materials in the same ways, so why can't a CPU take 90C?

 

[DrPepper]

That, my friend, is a placebo The card is generating the same heat, your just moving it into your room faster

No I my stock cooler had a fan and did about 90's I went passive and i'm only at 30's

 

[Jeno]

mine never gets over 55 on a hot day, so i should probably ramp up the oc's some more before farcry 2... right?

 

[KainXS]

I disagree that 90C is safe for GPU's. It might not fry the card instantly, but it will definitely shorten the lifespan. Why it is safe for a GPU to be at 90C, but not a CPU, they are made out of the same materials in the same ways, so why can't a CPU take 90C?

Yep I totally agree with that, when your talking about the life expectancy of cpu's and gpu's

Its widely known that failure in a cpu/gpu/etc is a DIRECT result of the amount of thermal cycles and the change in temperature above ambient

and theres formulas that prove it.

 

[Deusxmachina]

Yeah, I feel sorry for people's wallets when told to go buy an aftermarket cooler for $40 because holy crap 75 degrees is too hot.

Heat does indeed kill electronics, so cooler is always better, but a lot of people take cooling to an extreme. It's up there with decreasing the life of a CPU by overclocking it. Yeah, maybe it reduces the life, but it will still likely last long after it's outdated anyway.

 

[Formula350]

That, my friend, is a placebo The card is generating the same heat, your just moving it into your room faster

Actually it's not. I kept my bedroom warm for a few Minnesota winters SOLELY off my 2x Athlon MP rig. Rest of the house used the heater, while my room I had the vent shut and my door was also always shut. If my door was open, I could feel the cooler (70f) air coming in and my nicer 80f air leaving heh. They also play off each other as well. Computer gets hotter, then room gets hotter, room hotter = higher ambient = higher computer. It won't keep going like that, since the ambient temp would have to really jump up, and my heatsinks were able to keep both chips around 48c under load. So we have 2 chips at 48c, a graphics card (which would've been my 9700 Pro) around 55c (to be fair to it's power and shite stock hsf), ram, around 4 HDDs, PSU and the other small ICs on the motherboard. Turns into quite a baseboard heater that moonlights as a speedy computer

Yeah, I feel sorry for people's wallets when told to go buy an aftermarket cooler for $40 because holy crap 75 degrees is too hot.

Heat does indeed kill electronics, so cooler is always better, but a lot of people take cooling to an extreme. It's up there with decreasing the life of a CPU by overclocking it. Yeah, maybe it reduces the life, but it will still likely last long after it's outdated anyway.

I know that with my better cooling on my x1950 Pro, it's overclock potential skyrocketed. It could barely move with the stock POS, then I threw on a HIS IceQ3 setup on it (mines a Sapphire) and I have one of the highest older style PCB 1950 OCs that's only on air.

You're dead on with that last bit though!

 

[Mussels]

I've always said look at stock load temps, and when OC'ing keep it under that.

VRM's and ram are included in that logic, getting a small infrared thermometer can really help

 

[ascstinger]

Yep I totally agree with that, when your talking about the life expectancy of cpu's and gpu's

Its widely known that failure in a cpu/gpu/etc is a DIRECT result of the amount of thermal cycles and the change in temperature above ambient

and theres formulas that prove it.

Back when I kept parts for more than a month, I had an x1900xtx that did 95 on load, when I overclocked, the temps actually dropped because the fan kicked up a notch. Lasted me a year, and I sold it off.

Once gpu's start to break before the card is rendered useless by modern games, it might present more of an issue. Most non-gaming cards dont reach such temperatures, so this doesnt apply to them. I agree heat kills, but not at a rate that worries me. Maybe I just take extra good care of my gear or been lucky, but it hasnt presented a problem to me yet

 

[Jacko28]

However a Cooler GPX does mean a cooler room which is always nice in the summer if your stuck on your computer.

 

[Widjaja]

I think the temperature threshold depends for card to card.
I had a 8800GT xxx which would crap out at 95degC. (cooler was faulty)
If I dropped the clocks to stock 8800GT it would carry on at 105degC without fault.
I now own a HD4850 which reaches 95degC regularly and has never caused a problem.

 

[grunt_408]

I think the temperature threshold depends for card to card.
I had a 8800GT xxx which would crap out at 95degC. (cooler was faulty)
If I dropped the clocks to stock 8800GT it would carry on at 105degC without fault.
I now own a HD4850 which reaches 95degC regularly and has never caused a problem.

Geez I was worried about my 3870 idling @60 so I altered bios fan settings so I get idle round 45 now. I wasnt too sure how hot they should get.

 

[Widjaja]

Geez I was worried about my 3870 idling @60 so I altered bios fan settings so I get idle round 45 now. I wasnt too sure how hot they should get.

Yeah at the end of the day, if the card craps out at stock clocks and stock fan speed, there's a problem with it.

No one should ever have to increase anything to make thier GPU run properly.

 

[MoonPig]

100c+ :O. Ive just run the CSS stress test with:

1440x900
All high
4xAA 4xAF

And my 3870 didnt go above 40c. Thats with an overclock too! How do you manage 100c?

 

[Widjaja]

If you a talking about the 8800GT temperatures I was getting, I did put in brackets the cooler was faulty.
The other 8800GT xxx I recieved both maxxed out at 77degC.

 

[Mussels]

However a Cooler GPX does mean a cooler room which is always nice in the summer if your stuck on your computer.

um, yeah. so if you take the heat off the GPU, it goes into the air in your case, into the air in your room... and that makes it colder? if anything, overheating hardware would concentrate the heat into the PC case, leaving hte rest of the room colder.

 

[Formula350]

um, yeah. so if you take the heat off the GPU, it goes into the air in your case, into the air in your room... and that makes it colder? if anything, overheating hardware would concentrate the heat into the PC case, leaving hte rest of the room colder.

If you don't have proper case flow, yes No offense, but anyone who builds their own computer, and doesn't have a way to vent the warm air, should be buying a pre-built and not overclock! My case is passively vented, the top 5.25" bay is wide open and the heat just rolls on out. I also have my CPU fan ducted from the outside for cool air, and my video card has a fan that blows in cool air from the front, right across it's HSF, and then it is ducted out as well. The only heat that gets put in the case (other than from HDDs and ICs) is from my CPU, but since it's getting ducted outside air, that doesn't bother me any

 

[Mussels]

If you don't have proper case flow, yes No offense, but anyone who builds their own computer, and doesn't have a way to vent the warm air, should be buying a pre-built and not overclock! My case is passively vented, the top 5.25" bay is wide open and the heat just rolls on out. I also have my CPU fan ducted from the outside for cool air, and my video card has a fan that blows in cool air from the front, right across it's HSF, and then it is ducted out as well. The only heat that gets put in the case (other than from HDDs and ICs) is from my CPU, but since it's getting ducted outside air, that doesn't bother me any

you missed the point. he thinks that a colder GPU means a colder room. Thats entirely untrue, as giving it better cooling simply gets the heat into the air faster - it doesnt change the amount of heat produced.